Question of Nature
by FanfictionWriter83729
Summary: AU, Natural!Extended!Kira, series of drabbles and oneshots. Prologue: Ulen Hibiki wanted to do something good for the world.


**Disclaimer: **do not own Gundam Seed/Destiny.

**Summary: **AU, Natural!Extended!Kira, series of drabbles and oneshots. Prologue: Ulen Hibiki wanted to do something good for the world.

**Author note: **Am currently taking the 30hugs and 30kisses challenges. Challenges will be answered here…eventually.

**Pairing for 30kisses: **Kira Yamato and Stellar Loussier.

**Friendshipping for 30hugs: **Kira Yamato and Athrun Zala.

* * *

A Question of Nature

**Prologue**

In between the sapphire glow of the Earth and the diamond glitter of the PLANTs, the whole moon-colony of Cornicupris was bathed in artificial night. The otherwise deserted streets were kept company only by the occasional car that drove past, the driver in a hurry to get home. Shadows hugged the streets, only to be gently pushed away by the streetlights. Here and there, little lights were turned on in an otherwise darkened building, indicating a forgetful co-worker or, more often than not, a sleepless dreamer.

In the Pisces Suburbs, one of the most affluent neighbourhoods in Cornicupris, a little girl and a little boy were fast asleep in their rooms, the girl dreaming of adventures and the boy dreaming of flight. Their mother was asleep also, though her dreams were not as pleasant, and her worries about the future and especially about the future of her children continued to torment her in sleep. And their father was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling.

Ulen Hibiki wanted to do something good for the world.

It was troubled times that they lived in. The Natural-Coordinator tension was thick in the air. Each and every person breathed it in, and it poisoned them. On the Natural side was fear and jealousy; on the Coordinator side was scorn and condescension. A mist of hate covered everything, turning truth into lies and lies into truth.

There would have been a lot more Coordinators if the procedure was affordable. Yes, there were those that believed that genetic manipulation was 'unnatural', but all in all, parents wanted the best for their children, and who would not want to give their child every advantage to make it in this world? To the average person, getting genetically modified was no different from getting an immunization shot.

He and Via had agreed to make their own children Coordinators. However, Kira and Cagalli were conceived at a remote location as the scientists lived among indigenous peoples, learning about the medicinal properties of the local vegetation. By the time they returned to a location where genetic manipulation was available, Via was in her third trimester and it was too late to make genetic modifications.

The Hibikis remained one of the rich families who were also Natural. They, and the Allsters. However, the Allsters were _nouveau riche, _and the family patriarch, who had made the fortune, was quite proud of his Natural heritage.

The fact was that genetic manipulation was an expensive procedure, and as the procedure became more and more refined, the price of manipulated genes continued to rise. For the longest time, even the use of manipulation to cure genetic diseases was available only to those who could afford it. The gap between the rich and the poor, already large at the time of the first Coordinator's childhood, had increased astronomically when the Coordinator procedure was made public.

Now, not only was it a question of social status, but also a question of race.

There was so much hatred, so much fear.

It was not a good time to be a child.

Kira and Cagalli had entered a mixed school, and were thus at the forefront of this all. Their parents had considered putting them in an all-Natural school, but then ultimately decided that that was totally against what they were trying to teach their children, and to the world.

When they had first entered school, the children made small gangs, and excluded one another. Kira, with his fairly exotic eyes (and even amongst the Coordinators, violet eyes continued to be very difficult to the point of impossible to pull off) had been marked as a Coordinator. Because Cagalli was his twin sister, they assumed that she was one too. When the other children found out the truth of their heritage—that they were Natural—there was a sudden shift. Those that they thought were friends no longer wanted anything to do with them, and those that scorned them all of a sudden reserved seats for them at playtime and lunchtime.

Children were supposed to be carefree, to be careless and ignorant of the prejudices that plagued the adult world. However, sometimes children were cruel to one another. Children, after all, learned from their parents.

There was hope yet, though.

Athrun Zala, the son of a rising PLANT politician, attended the school as well. Though he had followed the footsteps of his friends—as children will tend to do—he was quite different when separated.

When he was asked to tutor Kira—the boy was bright enough, and readily understood the concepts, but was a daydreamer himself—he was at first shy and hesitant, but then became quite like an older brother.

Exasperated, worried, proud, concerned, helpful, teasing…

Cagalli seemed to have a crush on the blue-haired boy, a crush that had not yet waned though years had passed, and expressed it the only way children knew how to express affection towards one another: by constantly teasing him and pushing him.

Those three had been inseparable for years now…and then the young Zala had moved away.

Ulen suspected that it was his father's doing—Lenore Zala had been supportive of all her son's friendships, and had been like an aunt to Kira and Cagalli—but Patrick Zala, though he said nothing, all but emanated his displeasure.

Ulen said nothing of his suspicions, though, not even to Via. Kira had been quite distraught enough that his friend left him, and for three whole days had just sat outside during playtime, watching the Torii—a parting gift from Athrun—fly around with listless eyes. Cagalli would sit beside him, in silence, knowing that he juts needed her there.

Natural, Coordinator…it didn't matter. Kira, Cagalli, Athrun…even at their age, they knew that. They were all people, weren't they?

Ulen Hibiki wanted to do something good for the world.

He and Via had started discussing a program. Nurture and nature were integral to the development of the person. They were convinced that, with the right upbringing, the Naturals could achieve all that the Coordinators could achieve.

Perhaps then there would be no more hatred.

It would be the Extended program.

Oh, it had been just an idea at first. An idea that even Via now looked back at with fond memories, thinking nothing of making it into a reality.

But he wanted to make it into a reality.

They could enrol the children of the less well-off into a boarding school, raising them into well-educated and well-trained adults. The parents would not be able to afford to bring their children home everyday, and it was stretching Ulen's pockets and the pockets of his supporters just getting non-profit program up and running.

Thank goodness, Ulen thought again, for Blue Cosmos. The humanitarian organization believed heavily in his works when all the other organizations looked at him and saw a hopeless dreamer. They had even raised enough funds to build Lodonia.

It would be a proper school.

And maybe, one day, they could make it into a proper community, a proper city, a proper country, where Naturals and Coordinators would live and work and play together.

He smiled wryly at the thought. Dreamer, that's what people called him.

But in this world, dreams were all they had.

It was a dangerous world now. A desperate world. And he feared that in their desperation, both sides would look to madmen for answers.

He met his supporter—the leader of Blue Cosmos—the next day.

They had made some…some _modifications_ to his plans.

"What is this?!" he roared, tossing the papers to the side. "I want to raise these children to be—to be people! Not soldiers, not weapons! What do you think you're doing, Azrael?"

The man behind the table remained calm, the tips of his fingers pressed together. "My, my," he said, shaking his head sadly, as though chastising a small child. "And here I was trying to convince the others that you would be supportive of our cause."

"Your cause?" Ulen repeated incredulously. "You claim to be a humanitarian organization!"

"And the only Naturals are human," Azrael continued calmly.

"Then I want no part of this! Take your cause, take your blood money!" He turned to leave, but then he heard the audible click of a door locking.

"What are you doing, Azrael?" he asked, his voice dangerously soft.

"Well, I am afraid that I can't let you leave," Azrael said, smiling still. "Blue Cosmos is not yet ready to reveal herself as the driving force of truth and purity that it is."

Ulen was about to retort, but then Azrael said, "And, I am afraid that, by now, your beautiful wife has gone through an unfortunate accident."

Ulen went white. "What have you done?"

Azrael continued to smile. "And don't worry. Your children will be taken care of."

"You bast—Leave my children alone! I—I'll go along with your plan. Just don't hurt my children."

"Are you joking, old man?" Azrael said, his grin widening savagely. "They will be the star children of Lodonia."

There was a single shot. Ulen heard—or perhaps he imagined—Via's screams, Cagalli's cries, and Kira's sobs.

Then...then…darkness.

Ulen Hibiki wanted to do something good for the world.


End file.
